English Castles
by HummingAtNight
Summary: What happens when Castle and Beckett needs to go on the run to England to keep out of danger? Set in season 6.
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone, I don't really know what this this but there you go, that's life. All you need to know is that this is set somewhere in season 6, that's all :D enjoy! ~Verity

"Kate! Kate!" he screamed frantically rushing into the warmth of the loft, not even bothering to shut the door behind him, but only silence answered Castle's cries. "Kate, where are you?" Nothing.

"Kate!" "What Castle?" asked Beckett as she walked out of their room, gently sweeping the sleep out of her eyes, as she motioned to door behind him and he complied. She looked mad at him for waking her up but it was adorable. He couldn't really blame her for being angry though - it was her day off and so he had let her have a lie in. But he had ruined her sanctity, her peace... He could've laughed at the state of her hair, sticking up on end almost as if she was a porcupine. He loved her hair...

Wait. No. He shouldn't be thinking like this. Now is not the time.

The smile quickly faded from Castle's face as he looked straight into Kate's eyes until her maddening gleam disappeared too.

"What Castle?" she breathed.

Silence.

"What is it?" she was getting worried now, Castle could recognize the helpless in her features, the vulnerability; and for a moment he almost felt proud to get to see this emotion flutter across her face. He thought back to a different time, a time when such an expression would be unseen from her, hidden from the world. But that was then, and this is now. They're together now. She has him. She depends on him.

"Kate I..." he sighed. "Kate, we need to go. Now. Don't ask me why, I just need you to trust me, but we need to leave now."

"Okay." Okay? Was he dreaming? Did Kate Beckett really just not question him?

"Oh, c'mon Castle, don't look so surprised," she grinned. That was Kate. That was his Kate; why they worked so well, why they were each other's always. He would've laughed too if it were under different circumstances.

"So, where are we going?" she spoke nervously braking the silence. "England." Kate's eyebrows shot up in surprise. England? Why England? A million questions rushing through her mind at once. How much danger were they in? Enough to go to another country? This can't be good, although all she could whisper in reply was, "Okay."

A short smile of gratitude danced across his lips as walked past Beckett into their bedroom. He pulled the wardrobe open and grabbed two grey-black suitcases out from the corner and laid them flat on the bed as she joined him.

"You have 10 minutes. Grab whatever you'll need," Castle gestured towards the suitcase on the left.

"How long are we expected to be gone for?" Kate spoke softly.

Fear filled his soul as he thought about it. How long exactly would they be gone? He didn't want to know, to think. They just needed to disappear. "However long it takes for you to be safe," he said honestly.

"And how long will that be?" Beckett looked into his eyes to try to read his thoughts but he hurriedly looked away. It was clear that he didn't want her to push for answers, just like she did all those years ago.

So Kate sighed and began throwing items into her suitcase: clothes, underwear, toiletries, books. Whatever she could think of, and Castle did the same. Soon they were done and Castle dragged the suitcases off the bed and down into the hardwood floor.

"Let's go," he wheeled the cases into the living room towards the front door.

"Castle, wait." Beckett grasped his shirt and tugged him to face her. "I just need to know who we're running from."

"Bracken," Castle whispered. "It's Bracken."


	2. Chapter 2

"Bracken," Castle whispered. "It's Bracken."

"Bracken? But, but... How? Why? Why now? I've been safe from him for over a year. Castle, we've been safe from him."

"I know, I know I.."

"Castle," she asked slowly "how do you know this?"

He sighed, terrified of a repeat of their fight almost two years ago now, just before they got together. He didn't want that, he couldn't be without her. Not now, not now that they've got this far together. She's his fiancée, he needs her. And although she probably won't admit it, she needs him too.

"Kate, don't be mad."

"Castle..." she began but stopped, unsure of what to say.

"C'mon, let's sit down," he spoke as he touched her elbow and led them over to sit on the leather couch, bringing them back to their feeling of sanctity even if only for a second.

Castle turned towards Beckett, twitching his hands in his lap out of fear of her reaction. "Kate, I know I shouldn't have done it but I needed to keep you safe."

"What exactly did you do Castle?"

"I have a friend... Heather. She needed money and so I told her I would pay her if she kept an eye on Bracken for me." He paused to gage her reaction and as if she read his mind she reached her hand over to grasp his and squeezed. He smiled at her gesture. It was small but it was them, the smallest things mean the most.

"She managed to get a job as his assistant and she promised to call me if there was any news where she thought your life could be threatened."

"And I take it she called with news?"

"Yes. Turns out that Bracken's been watching you," Kate swallowed hard. "She was sneaking around his office once he was in a meeting and there was a file about you in his desk. It contained surveillance pictures of you at work, going to the supermarket, us at the park... Kate, he's been watching you." He paused again. "He found out you don't have the file, that Smith didn't have a copy for us to find."

"Shit," Beckett said under her breath.

"Kate, I promise you, we'll get through this and you'll be safe. I won't let anything happen to you. Not again, not after your..." he sighed.

"My shooting," she finished.

"I can't lose you again," he whispered and it almost sounded like a broken promise tumbling from his lips, so she squeezed his hand again.

"How long do we have until he comes after us?" she asked.

"Not long, that's why we need to go now."

"What about Martha and Alexis? Will they be safe?"

"Alexis is going on spring break down to Miami tomorrow anyway and mother is in the Hamptons. They should be fine."

"And Espo and Ryan?"

"We'll buy a burner cell as soon as we land, call them, ask them to work the case."

"So it's just you and me."

"Guess so," he trailed off. "Look, I'm sorry for going behind your back, I know it was wrong and that I've mislaid your trust and I'm..."

"Castle, it's okay. I know you just wanted to keep me safe, I've learnt that now," she smiled and he smiled back, "But I swear if you ever go behind my back on something like this again I will kill you."

And there was Kate Beckett again.

"Deal." he grinned looking down into her deep green eyes. It was her turn to break the eye contact this time, but she leaned into him gently, shutting her eyes and sliding an arm around his waist and he dropped a kiss on the top of her head, enjoying this small moment of silence.

"We should go," he spoke quietly, not wanting to ruin the quiet, and Beckett's eyes fluttered open. "The flight is in two hours."

"Better get going then," Kate whispered as she withdrew from Castle, pulling him off the couch then grabbed her luggage.

He opened the door and let her go through first, then wheeled his own bag out into the hallway after Beckett.

The writer took a moment to reflect on the loft before he fully shut the door. Next time he came home what would be different? Would they even come home? Or would he come home on his own, his detective dead with another bullet impaled into her chest, bleeding out on the cold concrete floor as he begged her over and over again to stay with him? All he really knew is that the next time he saw the loft, everything would be different.

He looked up to Beckett and she gave him a soft smile of encouragement and he steadily shut the door.

They were ready to go.

The bag check in and security were simple to get through, and after a good half an hour of wandering around the duty free their flight was called.

They sat on the plane waiting for it to take off and anxiety was getting the better of Kate. Castle could tell by the way she sat silently staring out of the airplane window, fiddling with his fingers on her knee.

"Hey," he said pulling her out of thoughts. "It's going to be okay."

"I know," she muttered. "I know I just wasn't expecting this I guess... It was just my day off and now we're going to England on the run from Bracken. It's just hard to get my head around, you know?" Kate curled up further into the first class seat as if trying to make her as small as possible and Castle could only clutch her hand in response.

They sat like that for a while until Beckett had a thought, "How did you meet this Heather girl?"

"She's an old friend from when I was writing Derrick Storm. Used to work for the Bonanno family in the Mafia until she got out. I used her knowledge for a few books, that's all."

"...Did you sleep with her?" she asked with a quirk of her eyebrow until she saw the stunned expression on Castle's face. "I mean back then, not now," she elaborated.

"I.. Uh, no, no I didn't."

"Are you sure about that Castle?"

"Yes..." he paused. "Is this you being jealous?"

"Ha! Jealous?!" she laughed. "I don't get jealous."

"Oh sure you don't. So you weren't jealous when I was dating Jacinda?"

"What? That blonde bimbo you went out with just before we got together?" Kate retorted.

"Uh, she was no bimbo in fact she was a well respected um..." he looked subtly around the plane then whispered "air hostess." as an air hostess walked past them and Beckett tried to stifle a laugh. "She was no bimbo."

"Uh huh sure, and I'm the president of fantasyland," she giggled.

"Well, Detective, you do seem to appear in a fair amount of my fantasies," he spoke in a husky voice and Beckett tried to hide her blush.

The airplane then jolted forward and started to move before hurtling down the runway and up into the vast blue sky.

"You ever been to England before, Kate?" the writer asked.

"Once. I was 16 and my mom thought it would be fun to go over for summer break. We mainly did touristy stuff but it just kept raining the whole time. It wasn't much fun. You?"

"A few times on book tours, once with Gina." he shrugged. "Oh, by the way a friend of mine, Tom, he's picking us up at the airport."

"Oh, okay."

"Yeah we're staying with him and his mom while we're over there."

"His mom?!"

"Yeah, why?"

"Urm... I just... Wow. Okay, so, how old is this Tom guy?"

"Late twenties I suppose."

"And he still lives with his mother?"

"Look, it will help us keep a low profile. Plus, who wouldn't trust an old woman? It'll be perfect."

Beckett loved him when he was like this; here they were facing danger, on the brink of being killed yet he was still excited about deceiving someone with a little old woman. God, she loved him.

"So, how do you know Tom? Was he in some kind of British Mafia or something too?"

He grinned, "No, not quite. He works for Black Pawn."

"Black Pawn publishes books in England too?"

"Yeah of course."

"That reminds me actually. Don't you have some writing to do?" Kate smirked.

"...I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh so there's no reason why I have 10 text messages from Gina on my phone."

"Okay so maybe I'm a bit behind on my next chapter deadline..." Castle replied.

"A bit? Care to elaborate?"

"...A month."

"Castle!"

"What? You're a very distracting muse, did you know that?"

"Well I think I know what you're doing for the rest of the flight."

"How long is this flight anyway?" he asked.

"About 8 hours," Kate smirked again.

"Shit," Castle murmured.

"Keep on writing, writer boy," she grinned putting her headphones in so that Castle could no longer use her as a distraction to procrastinate.

A few hours of writing later, Castle looked over to Kate asleep on his shoulder. He couldn't help but compare this to when they were coming back from L.A. Only difference was that that time it was the other way round, he fell asleep of Kate. She was surprisingly calm about it given the circumstances. He'd expected her to want to shoot him, but it was as if she had actually enjoyed him leaning on her. Oh honestly, who was he kidding? She'd clearly just needed some comfort from Royce's murder. That was all. She was with Josh back then. I mean, why would she even want comfort from him when she was with Josh?

He sighed and turned back to his fiancée, a smile playing on her lips. He was happy to see her so smile. She shuffled a little next to him and he caught a glimpse of her engagement ring down her shirt. He couldn't help but grin at that. She was his now, not Josh's. Josh was gone, never to be seen again. And anyway, she had said yes to marrying him, not Josh. He put his arm around her and she gave a small hum of pleasure, Kate's head now rested on his chest.

They would be fine.


End file.
